Java Street Community Garden to Ring in Summer

The Java Street Community Garden will play host to an event, this Saturday, full of food, drinks, and workshops, ushering Greenpoint residents into the summer.

Spring Into Summer will feature a BBQ, a live music session, workshops on composting, a class for kids on how to make seed bombs, and a raffle of goods and services donated by local businesses.

“It is an excuse to invite everyone who helped us make this garden possible,” said Nicole De Feo, one of the members of the community garden. “So they can see how much the garden has changed since 2012, when it was a vacant lot with weed and rubble, and how it’s transformed into a community garden through the efforts of volunteers.”

The garden came to fruition in the fall of 2011 when former Greenpoint resident Stella Goodall came about a vacant lot through the efforts of 596 Acres, an advocacy group that helps community members get access to unused land.

As it turned out the land was owned by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and after going through the proceedings with the city, the Garden first opened to the public in 2012.

At present the garden has around 30 members and a total of 24 individual beds for members to grow what they like. Becoming a member means helping to monitor the garden during public hours, a requirement the community garden has to maintain as part of the NYC Parks Department’s GreenThumb Initiative.

Last year, the Garden received close to $20,000 through a Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund (GCEF) Grant. It helped replace the Garden’s fence, install benches for the public, create an entry for vehicle deliveries, build a shed with a rainwater canopy, plant native species and perennials, and install a patio space. A rainwater garden is currently in the works.